Corporate governance - Vigil

On December 16, 2016, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a post-trial opinion in an appraisal proceeding arising from the acquisition of Lender Processing Services, Inc. (“LPS” or the “Company”) by Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (“Fidelity”). In his opinion in Merion Capital LP et al. v. Lender Processing Services Inc., C.A. No. 9320-VCL (Del. Ch. Dec. 16, 2016), Vice Chancellor Laster held that the “fair value” of the Company’s stock at the effective time of the merger was the $37.14/share merger price.

Brookdale Senior Living Inc. is in talks with private-equity firm Blackstone Group LP and other suitors about a possible sale of part or all of the company, the nation’s largest operator of senior-living centers.

M&A activity in 2016 had a slow start and a strong finish, reaching $3.7 trillion globally, behind 2015, but the third-busiest year on record.

Initial public offerings (IPOs) are often underpriced, so that an investor in a portfolio of new equity issues can expect a substantial above-market rate of return; in the long term, prices adjust and if anything there is overpricing

Chinese banks remain the largest corporations on earth. A trifecta of Chinese lenders, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China, held onto their rank as the world’s most powerful companies in 2015, topping the 2016 Forbes Global 2000. World's 25 Biggest Banks In 2016 - pg.1

A fierce debate has been raging over whether shareholder-driven “short-termism” (or “quarterly capitalism”) is a critical problem for U.S. public firms, their investors, and the nation’s economy. Certain academics (Bratton and Wachter, 2010; Coffee and Palia, 2015), corporate lawyers (Lipton, 2015), Delaware judges (Strine, 2010), and think tanks (Aspen Institute, 2009) contend that quarterly capitalism, exacerbated by the growing power of hedge funds, is substantially impairing firms’ ability to invest and innovate for the long term.

At the invitation of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum, I prepared The New Paradigm: A Roadmap for an Implicit Corporate Governance Partnership Between Corporations and Investors to Achieve Sustainable Long-Term Investment and Growth.

On Dec. 28, 2016, the New York State Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”) issued revisions to its proposed regulation that would impose new, rigorous cybersecurity requirements on banks, consumer lenders, money transmitters, insurance companies and certain other financial service providers (each a “Covered Entity”) regulated by the NYDFS (the “Proposed Regulation”). The Proposed Regulation’s effective date was delayed two months, from Jan. 1, 2017 to March 1, 2017. In the meantime, a new 30-day public comment period will run until Jan. 27, 2017.

Allergan Shareholders Win Political Disclosures - Policy responds to investor requests for transparency on lobbying and participation in trade associations